The rapper portrays Rashad with a decidedly more straight-laced personality than his own when he was growing up in the same 'hood the flick portrays. After the death of his parents, Rashad tries to keep his brother Ant (Evan Ross) in line, make some moves on the sexy New-New (Lauren London) and navigate decisions that will determine his life's course.

London, making her movie debut after starring alongside Jay-Z and Pharrell in the "Frontin' " video, was equally impressed when T.I. strapped on a pair of skates for some scenes set in a roller rink. "Aww, man!" she said, glancing over at her co-star. "He was actually real smooth on roller skates. He kept himself real disciplined on his skates."

"Yeah," T.I. said. "Yeah, I was cool."

It's that smooth attitude that has established T.I. as one of the more desirable males in hip-hop, but London insisted she focused on their friendship when it came time to film the flick's sweetly sexy make-out moments. "I didn't think about it like that," she said, shooting down T.I.'s sexiness. "Maybe I see him outside of that element, so he's just a real cool, genuine dude who's just real professional. We were working, that's how I saw it. If I went in feeling that way, I probably wouldn't have been able to do my job."

T.I., however, is all too ready to admit that he was thinking no such thing. "She definitely made it as easy as possible to get involved and as in character as I could be," he said. "You know, for the betterment of the scene. Whatever was best for the film. If they need us to kiss, then I guess we just gotta do it."